Many customers or potential customers fear how much work it will take to assemble their wooden furniture once they have purchased it. Hopefully this article helps clear up some of the questions that naturally arise.

While assembly instructions vary among wood furniture manufacturers, there are also many similarities. Below is an overview that should give you a better idea of ​​what is involved:

Dressers, chests of drawers, nightstands and cabinets

Most rustic items such as dressers, dressers, nightstands, and cabinets require very little assembly. As a general rule, we disassemble doors and drawer handles to avoid damage during transport, since they tend to protrude and be in danger.

There are holes in the drawer or door fronts, and screws are included, so for these items it’s simply a matter of placing the wooden furniture handle over the holes, inserting the screws through the door or drawer. in the hole and tighten them. .

Amish Low Post Log Beds

Most Amish makers like to assemble headboards into log beds. Sometimes we ask you not to remove all four corner legs for ease of shipping as the beds can be a bit big and making them smaller helps save on shipping cost.

Every Amish furniture maker I know of uses Gorilla Glue, which is an incredibly strong glue. Once they glue the header on, you better forget trying to take it apart. I know people who have tried to take them apart and broke off a piece of the bed instead.

So, as a general rule, Amish headboards and footboards come fully assembled. At a minimum, the part of the ladder that crosses between the two posts is already assembled and glued. If the posts are not attached, you need to connect the two parts of the horizontal bed ladder (headboard and footboard) at the four corner posts.

Amish beds are generally 100% wood.

That means the mattress and box spring are supported by a wooden frame. As a general rule, two logs run down the side of each bed, at the base of the box springs. These logs plug into the headboard and footboard at each end. The bottom of these two logs have holes drilled for three “cross logs” that cross and support the bed. The middle cross log, on most Amish beds, has a small log piece that runs down to the floor to offer a greater degree of support.

So there you have it. If you’ve never seen an Amish bed frame before, you might have to look at those records for a minute to figure it out. But once you understand it, it’s pretty straightforward. You’ll want a screwdriver, as you’ll want to drive a few 2 ½-inch wood screws near where the log ends, or “chucks” as they’re called, plug them into the designated holes.

This secures the entire frame and, together with the large amount of Guerilla glue already administered by the Amish, makes it even stronger. A rubber mallet is also quite useful at times, for hitting a cranky piece of wood into place. But you can use a normal hammer, if you protect the wood by putting a book or something in the middle.

Low Post Log Beds with Metal Frames

The assembly of low log beds with metal frames is even easier. Ladder parts usually come pre-assembled, so all you have to do is plug the “chucks” into the four corner posts and drive in the provided wood screws to secure them. Most of our metal frame beds have lag screws pre-installed in the headboard and footboard trunks. Simply take the metal frame and hook it over the lag screws on each, then tighten the nuts to secure the bed.

Metal framed log beds are very sturdy and probably a bit easier to assemble than 100% log beds. They also take up slightly less space to the sides since they don’t have the side trunk rails on the side. You can get decorative log side rails to clip onto your metal bed frame, if it bothers you to have your bed frame show through. You can also cover the metal bed frame with a skirt, and it won’t show when the bed is made anyway.

Assembly of canopy log beds

Assembling a canopy log bed is a bit more challenging than the others, simply because of the height and size of the logs. This is definitely a two person job – I know some pretty mechanical guys who tried doing one on their own and really had a pretty good time. No matter how skilled you are, you need someone to fill one position while you work another! Other than that, it’s really not too difficult.

There are simply logs to plug in both at the top and bottom, and in fact, it wouldn’t hurt to have a couple of people to help hold the parts while you tighten the screws.

Yes I can do it…

I’m not known for being a mechanic or a handyman, but with the help of my 11 year old son I put together a low post log bed with a metal frame in less than half an hour. So if you have mechanical issues, it’s really not that bad.

But if a log bed is what you’ve always hoped for but you’re really overwhelmed by the thought of putting it together, why not make some chocolate chip cookies for one of your screwdriver friends and let them lend you a hand? However, IMHO putting together a log bed isn’t nearly as difficult as other assembly projects I’ve tackled. So get out your screwdriver and get to it!